Alternative to Fashion Week in the Works
The ranks of independent Los Angeles Fashion Week shows will expand even more when Avant Garde Fashions enters the fray.
Formed in January, the novice show producer is planning Fashion Extravaganza, a two-day event that will most likely run before the Fall 2005 edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif. The event will be held at The New Mart or in an industrial space in downtown Los Angeles.
The name Avant Garde reflects the organization’s focus on emerging designers and its desire to host an artistically inspired event.
Fashion show producer Gen Art—which promotes emerging fashion designers, musicians, filmmakers and artists—already uses a similar formula.
Lee Trimble, fashion program manager of Gen Art Los Angeles, said there is always room for more shows.
“There are a lot of ambitious ideas out there,” Trimble said. “I’ve seen a lot of designer showcases come and go. I certainly don’t see it as a threat. It could add another layer to what’s already going on.”
Noeacute; Pintilde;a, co-founder and marketing director of Avant Garde Fashions, said his show will be upscale and open to the public. “We want consumers to be able to purchase products from the designers’ booths and have it be more of a general public thing and more of a fun event, rather than solely an industry event,” he said.
Avant Garde will attempt to attract young designers daunted by the cost of staging a runway show. For $650, designers will receive a sales booth; a runway show complete with models, makeup artists and a backstage manager; and a three-month showcase on the organization’s Web site, www.avantgardefashions.com.
For the rest of the year, Avant Garde will work on developing the Web site—which will feature designer, model, makeup artist and photographer profiles—collecting fees in the process. This service is already available.
Pintilde;a founded Avant Garde Fashions with his wife, Michelle, who has an apparel line called Brignoni. Both attended Otis College of Art & Design and have backgrounds in the visual arts. They were inspired to become event producers after successfully offering a variety of services to video production companies.
“We got a lot of good feedback for having a lot of services under one umbrella,” Pintilde;a said. “So we wanted to apply the same idea to the fashion show experience.”
He hopes to develop Avant Garde into an all-around resource for young designers, providing photographers, hair and makeup stylists, and models for affordable fees.
